Scale Model Society set for third annual exhibition

The third annual Gibraltar Scale Model Society competition will be held on the weekend of October 16 at the GEMA gallery.

Roy Perez, the president of the society, told the Chronicle what participants and the public had to look forward to.

“Originally we used to do the whole show for the whole week but we found that that was too demanding. I have participated in different international events and learning from
different clubs we have now compressed everything down to a weekend,” said Mr Perez.

“Before it was more of an exhibition, now it is primarily for the participants.”

“Friday will be the depositing of the actual exhibits and Saturday morning the same.

Then as from midday on Saturday it will be open to the public.”

The exhibition will stay open till 8pm on the Saturday. This gives the public the maximum
length of time to submit their votes for the ‘People’s Vote’.

Covid-19 measures will be adhered to with a maximum of 20 people inside the gallery at
any one time. Masks and hand sanitiser will also be in use.

At present, the number of foreign exhibitors is unknown.

“We have had interest from Portugal, certainly from Spain but we do not know the exact
numbers as they still have another two weeks to be able to decide if they can come,” said
Mr Perez.

Two master class workshops will also be taking place, with Abilio Grajera assisted by
Maunel Campos and Carlos Munos de Bustillo and another by Selu Casanova.

These masters work for two of the best known companies in the world, which happen to be
based in Spain, according to Mr Perez. These will take place from 1pm to 7pm intermittingly
on Saturday. With Covid restrictions regarding numbers in place.

Also due to Covid-19 there will not be a prize ceremony and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes for
each category will be issued upon collection of exhibits.

There will be three main awards, best in show which is selected by judges, the
Gibraltar theme award and the public award.

The society itself is only a few years old but its membership and supporters grow each year.

Mr Perez welcomes anyone with an interest to speak to him or any other society members
about signing up. Members get a discount price on submitting pieces into competitions.

Looking towards the future Mr Perez’s ultimate aim is to secure premises so that everyone can share their experiences and skill set as well as showing their models.

“I want to get young people involved in the hobby again,” he said.

“The younger generation are more into Warhammer and things like that and I want to
entice them to come and do some military work.”

“One of the categories is sci-fi to be able to get the Warhammer type individuals to participate.”

“There are some very good artists here in Gibraltar and some people are not even aware
as to how good they are,” he added.

Entry into the exhibition is free of charge and will be open to the public from 12 midday
to 8pm on Saturday and from 10am to 1pm on Sunday.